


Temper

by tinamachina



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Community: comment_fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 07:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2723414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinamachina/pseuds/tinamachina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: After a spat, Jareth leaves Toby in the Labyrinth to fend for himself</p>
            </blockquote>





	Temper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EffingEden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EffingEden/gifts).



Toby was running for his life.  
  
He and Jareth had gotten into some stupid fight, again. The Goblin King was being his usual arrogant self, and Toby, the hot-blooded human, was giving him lip. It was easy to flare tempers, and Jareth was a tinderbox in tight pants. Rude names like “asinine, infantile runt” and “ancient prancing cock-monger” were hurled at each other, until names were replaced by crystal balls. Jareth’s arm was as dangerous as Randy Johnson’s to a passing dove, but then Toby miraculously caught one crystal ball and hurled it deathly close to Jareth’s ear in retaliation.  
  
The satisfaction of revenge was short-lived, and Toby was immediately sent tumbling into the oubliettes.  
  
“Crawl your way out of this one!” Jareth angrily challenged before slamming the trap door shut.  
  
Toby was now scrambling through the dark, serpentine corridors of the Labyrinth, running away from something nasty and metal and sharp and spinning.  
  
Jareth must have gone “easy” on Sarah, mostly because she was a girl, Toby thought, and partly because the Goblin King kind of liked her. The Labyrinth reflected the moods and fancies of both the Goblin King (mischievously playful and seductively wicked) and its challenger (Sarah spoke of the Underground as a mysterious, somewhat dangerous, but ultimately magical and beautiful place with lots of hidden wonders.)  
  
But there was nothing beautiful about the Labyrinth this time. The Labyrinth was angry because the Goblin King was angry. The Labyrinth was a wild, sensitive, empathic thing, and now it was throwing a temper tantrum. It fed off of Toby’s grim, violent imagination and Jareth’s rage. Vine snapped at Toby’s ankles, tripping him up and cutting long tears through Toby’s jeans. Hot, noxious gases spewed out of cracks in the maze floor, as if the Bog of Eternal Stench was set on fire.  
  
Seemingly climbable vines were really horrible wormy-snaky things ready to squeeze and suck the blood out of Toby’s arms. Even the bricks in the wall launched themselves out of the wall, aiming for Toby’s head and barely missing by inches.  
  
At least Toby could run. All those after-school “zombie track meets” with his fellow art-geek friends was paying off with dividends. Toby sped around corners, stumbling over pitted ground.  
  
And there was no one to help him. He was certain that Hoggle and Ludo and Diddymus were locked away somewhere, forbidden from helping. But Toby was not going to ask for help. He was not about to tag out, or beg for mercy. He was better than his sister, better than the Goblin King himself. He’d show him!  
  
But the Cleaner was gaining on him, with its jagged, whirling blades.  
Toby did not stop running. He was cut and bruised and scorched and aching but he did not stop running. His felt his legs screaming for mercy and his lungs burn in his chest but he did not stop running…  
..Until he hit a dead end.  
  
Toby frantically searched the walls. There were no footholds, no vines, and no loose bricks to pull or trap doors to fall down. The Cleaner lurched forward, blades spinning menacingly closer.  
  
Toby stood with his back flat against the wall, his jaw clenched and his eyes open in defiance. He would not scream and he would not cry, even as he knew he was about to be torn apart any minute…  
  
Until a pair of strong gloved hands pulled him through a wall. Toby was soon pinned between a momentarily permeable wall and one-hundred-and-sixty pounds of trembling Goblin King.  
  
“I’m sorry! My poor brave boy, I’m so sorry!” Jareth was breathless, squeezing the air out of Toby’s lungs. “Forgive me! I get so angry but I can never see you hurt! Forgive me!”  
  
Toby wrapped his arms around the King, slowly catching his breath, “Forgiven. I’m sorry, too.”  
  
The whirring of the Cleaner vanished and the vines stopped snapping. The ground was still and it started to rain. The Labyrinth’s temper had cooled.


End file.
